10/10/2014 UA Sociology Brown Bag Speaker: Jeff Sallaz (UA Sociology)

Friday, October 10, 201412-1:15pSocial Sciences, Room 415

​ Where are you going?: How the world's poor navigate hostile megacities.

Jeff SallazAssociate ProfessorSchool of Sociology, UA

Megacities are where the action is and will be. As population growth in the Global North halts, and with ongoing economic globalization, our world’s people increasingly live in large conurbations in the Global South. We know that these megacities are plagued by overcrowding, poverty, poor planning, and inadequate services. But how do denizens of megacities manage everyday life? This talk describes an ongoing field study of metro Manila—capital of the Philippines, home to around 25 million people, and perhaps the densest place on earth. It argues that “commuting,” that is, simply getting among home, work, school, and other important places, dominates the lifeworld of metro Manilans. Drawing on participant observation and semi-structured interviews, Dr. Sallaz delineates a series of questions, hypotheses, and preliminary findings as to how the world's poor navigate hostile megacities.